Massive stars are key agents in the chemical and dynamical evolution of the Universe. Not only for millions of years do they continously deliver radiative and mechanical energy to their surroundings together with newly formed elements. They also explode as different kinds of Supernovae when they reach their final moment, injecting comparable

In general, all partners have a special interest in/focus on creating attractive teaching and learning environments for science students. The common context is the initiative and wish to create innovative learning environments for young learners or we might say: the future engineers and researchers. National initiatives The three countries’

One of the main results obtained by the large optical and infrared sky surveys (DENIS, SDSS, 2MASS, UKIDSS, WISE) that started at the end of the last century, has been the discovery of hundreds of ultracool dwarfs in the solar neighborhood. Spectroscopic characterization of these objects has led to the definition of 3 new spectral classes, namely L

EMIR, the common user NIR camera and multi-object spectrograph of the GTC, is currently at the end of its system final verification phase, prior to its shipping to the GTC for integration and commissioning at the telescope. EMIR is being realized by a Consortium lead by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) and including the Universidad

The IAC is the most important astrophysics research centre in Spain. Its new Strategic Plan mainly seeks excellence in science and to strengthen and consolidate the IAC´s position as a centre of international reference for astrophysical research.The Strategic Plan involves exploration and discovery using major world facilities (like GTC, VLT and